cd wow starting warn about import tax

Guest

Was just going to order alias season 2 when i clicked on it and it told the usual about that this is aregion on blahh blah etc. But underneath it said warning you will be charged import tax as it is above your import limit this will be charged by the postman etc.

Ive ordered before things over £18 and that has never come up. Will they still refund charges etc or have they now stoped this ala soon.

Moderator

Originally posted by brifobwad Please note RM collects custom charges on behalf of Custom and Excise. If RM got custom charges for themselves NO imported DVD etc would escape being charged.

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CLH got charged £14 by the RM on top of £7 custom charge which is ridiculous and disgusting and in my personal opinion highway robbery.

I wanted to import something from the states $40 and just say international postage $20 which at $1.7 to the £1 is a total of £35.29 then 4% import duty then 17.5% VAT on that £43.12 but if the RM take double the customs that takes it up to £58.79 which is a little over the top. Also customs charging duty on postage beggars belief!

Active Member

Just remember, the industry doesn't want us to import DVDs as money goes out of the country, the fact that we can import stuff under £18 tax free is a luxuary that they may decide to take away one day.

Banned

Well that £7 must be something RM levy, I have just got the customs bill from colorfacts which came via fed ex. They charged me £4.50 fee...... considering this is for product value upwards of 50 times most dvds...... it does seem ridiculous that RM are getting what they do

Active Member

Don't quite understand some of the RM charges being discussed here. Last thing I got caught for import duty was some video cables. Item cost $70, Shipping $21, Import VAT £7.62, RM Clearance fee £4. The sticker on the box stated the fee is for RM presenting the package to customs, paying the fee on my behalf, then collecting the duty from me. Personally that seems reasonable for not having to get involved myself, now it would have been a different story if £4 had become £14. although it must be said the exact same specification cables UK manufacture, would still have been £20 more expensive!

Active Member

I have just had to pay out 7.50 for Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers (4 disc ed.).

No refund from CDWow! Emailed them Re: the charges and the reply ......

"Thank you for your email.

We are an international company and all items come from our warehouse in Hong Kong.

I'm very sorry that you have incurred these additional costs and although totally beyond our control, we do everything possible to avoid our customers paying any additional charges.

The reason you have been charged is because UK residents have a personal import allowance of £18.00 per package, unfortunately your package exceeded this amount and you have been charged the extra duty.

It was advertised when placing your order that you may incur charges, therefore we are not obliged to refund you on this occasion.

Please do accept our apologies for the inconvenience this has caused to you. I do hope it will not deter you from shopping with us again soon.

Novice Member

Anyone receive anything over 18 quid in the last few days and not get charged customs ? Strange that ferris57 and mackemansj1 got an e-mail saying customs wouldn't be a problem and here we now have our first "victim" (Kalef).

I'm waiting for Season 2 of The Shield - if it gets charged I'll be cancelling my outstanding order for a SLAPPA CD case (Nov 30!!) and I'll quote the e-mail about new shipping methods being in place and see where it gets me.

There's been one thing after another recently between myself and CD-Wow - they're no longer the "king" IMO

Member

Originally posted by mackemansj1 Hi mate sorry to hear this. I emailed them last week before i ordered alias season 2.

And was told that they had shipping in place to ensure u do not incur import charges.

I would email them back and tell them this. cd wow are normally very helpful but if i get hit i will shove that email back at them and demand a refund.

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What exactly is this 'shipping in place to prevent any more charges'? Seriously, anything over £18 and you risk being charged, what are CD Wow doing that they can guarantee no charges? Smuggling the DVD's into the country?

Standard Member

Seems like all the emails from them are just to fob us off and keep everyone odering from them

I did notice that the response to my email was not a direct answer "YES/NO we refund customs charges" but a more vague "we have systems in place...." response which seems now deliberately wooly.

I think they are avoiding directly addressing the issues of customs. They are probably well aware of the damage it would do to their buisness if they admit customs charges are a lottery and are also aware how expensive it could get if they agree to refund charges accross the board.

I still think they are an excellent company with about the best service/prices but I'm not impressed at the way they are dealing with this. Sending non-commital emails which seem to be worded in a way that makes people think customs isn't an issue, when in fact it looks like it is!

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Standard Member

What exactly is this 'shipping in place to prevent any more charges'? Seriously, anything over £18 and you risk being charged, what are CD Wow doing that they can guarantee no charges? Smuggling the DVD's into the country?

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I was under the impression that they do/did reship from within the EU, meaning no customs charges for the recipient. But looks like I was/am wrong.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Member

This whole customs crap is the kind of stuff the contributes to piracy. Want the latest film? Don't want to be raped by customs if you order the Region 1 version? Don't want to wait maybe 6 months for the UK release? Download it!

Seriously, this is the way people will go, I also recently got hit by customs (or should I say 'handling fee's') on a number of things I'd imported (GBA, games, 128Mb Duo, etc, all seperately). In fact, I kicked up such a fuss at UPS they sent a letter promising to give me a £10 refund (ooooh, wow, they only had about £60 out of me within the space of a week) and I haven't received it yet, better get on the phone to them.

Standard Member

Personally I don't think piracy is the way to go. Mainly because it's not the studio's fault that royal mail charges high collection rates and our government sets a low personal import allowance. But in the long run it's the studio's that suffer.

If the government set a realistic personal allowance, such as £100, then the problem would dissapear. This could even apply to only media.

I don't have a problem paying customs on larger orders because the amount you pay in the end is not to bad proportionately. But when you order a dvd that's a couple of quid over the limit and end up paying an extra 30-40% once all fees are taken into account then I have a problem with it.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.